San Francisco 49ers: Taking Advantage of the Arizona Cardinals' Offensive Line

When the San Francisco 49ers played the Arizona Cardinals last season, there might as well have been a cardboard cutout playing left tackle for Arizona.  In the two games combined, Bradley Sowell gave up one sack, two quarterback hits and 15 quarterback hurries, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

The right side of San Francisco’s defense had two very good days exploiting Sowell, and that contributed a great deal to San Francisco’s 2-0 record against the 10-6 Cardinals:

Player	Sacks	QB Hit	Hurries	Tackles	Stops
Corey Lemonier	1	0	4	2	1
NaVorro Bowman	1	0	3	11	7
Justin Smith	0	2	5	2	1
Aldon Smith	0	1	3	4	2
Demarcus Dobbs	0	1	2	0	0
Dan Skuta	0	0	2	2	1
Total	2	1	19	21	12

Arizona knew they had to do something to upgrade the offensive line—specifically at left tackle but across the line in general.  The Cardinals return only center Lyle Sendlein and right guard Paul Fanaika from their starting lineup last year.  Sowell has been benched, Daryn Colledge released and Eric Winston was not re-signed.

In their places are a trio of new players.  Jared Veldheer was signed as a free agent from Oakland to play left tackle.  Ted Larsen came over from Tampa Bay to take over left guard.  They also moved 2012 fourth-round pick Bobby Massie back into the starting lineup after he struggled to learn Bruce Arian’s offense last season.

How has the revamped offensive line been doing so far?  While improved from last year, it’s had its fair share of struggles.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

It was high-priced free agent Veldheer who struggled the most in Week 1 against the San Diego Chargers.  Pro Football Focus (subscription required) charted him as responsible for allowing five of San Diego’s ten quarterback hurries, as he struggled to handle Dwight Freeney.  Freeney never quite got to quarterback Carson Palmer, but his spin moves made Veldheer look foolish.

Could this be a sign Veldheer isn’t fully recovered from the torn triceps he suffered last season?  Pro Football Focus (subscription required) did charge him with 13 quarterback hurries in only five games last season, a change from what’s been a very good career as a pass-protector.  The Cardinals gave him a $35 million contract this offseason, and they were expecting slightly better play than that.

Veldheer rebounded and had a clean day against the New York Giants in Week 2, but the left side of the line was still a liability, as Ted Larsen struggled against Jonathan Hankins and Jason Pierre-Paul.  It wasn’t nearly as bad as the San Diego game, but Hankins and Pierre-Paul combined for three sacks and another quarterback hit on Drew Stanton, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

All that being said, it’s been a better unit than what the Cardinals had last year, but that’s not all that surprising—it would be very difficult for any team to be worse in pass protection than Arizona was last year.  Improvements have moved the line back towards the league average, but it’s still far from one of the team's strengths.

Player	Position	Sacks	QB Hits	Hurries
Jared Veldheer	LT	0	0	5
Ted Larsen	LG	1	1	1
Lyle Sendlein	C	0	0	0
Paul Fanaika	RG	0	2	2
Bobby Massie	RT	1	1	2
Total	OL	2	4	10

Neither of the Cardinals’ two quarterbacks have looked fantastic under pressure, either.  In Week 1, Palmer completed only half of his passes for 46 yards when he was under pressure.  While he did manage to stand up to the rush and deliver one touchdown pass, he also took a couple of sacks.

Stanton, who replaced Palmer in Week 2 and looks likely to do the same in Week 3, actually took four sacks.  The eight passes he did manage to get off weren’t very good either; he completed three of them for 58 yards.  In other words, pressure has disrupted both of Arizona’s quarterbacks this season.

All in all, there are still opportunities for the 49ers to get pressure, but they won’t have the benefit of playing against Sowell and the 2013 crew.

It would be great if Aldon Smith could battle against Veldheer and Larsen—Smith has a great selection of pass-rush moves.  It wouldn’t be too hard to imagine him replicating Freeney’s great day coming off the outside, only with his younger legs allowing him to finish the plays off with sacks.  Of course, Smith’s still serving his nine-game suspension and won’t be available.

His replacements, Corey Lemonier and Dan Skuta, have been less than inspiring.  Lemonier has been getting the lion’s share of the pass-rushing duties, but has yet to record even a single quarterback hurry, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).  Instead, Skuta, in about half the pass-rushing snaps recorded by Lemonier, has earned a couple hurries himself, as well as trumping the second-year end in stops against the run.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

As a whole, the 49ers pass rush has been less than inspiring so far.  Justin Smith has been his usual fantastic self, and Aaron Lynch has shown promise, but the 49ers have not been getting the kind of pass rush they’ve been able to count on from their outside linebackers since the beginning of Jim Harbaugh's coaching tenure.  Neither Lemonier nor Ahmad Brooks have been able to take advantage of weak tackle play and cause much havoc in the backfield up to this point.

It’s critical that the 49ers take advantage of Arizona’s still questionable offensive line on Sunday.  The Cardinals went 10-6 last season, and failed only to pass up the 49ers in the NFC West standings thanks to San Francisco sweeping them.  Right now, Arizona currently sits alone atop the NFC West, and while it’s only Week 3, it’s a pretty important Week 3 game.

The 49ers probably have to go 5-1 in the division if they want to win the NFC West, and a loss in Arizona might mean the 49ers will need a win up in CenturyLink in December in order to come out on top.  That’s not a prospect worth relishing; the 49ers need to pick themselves up after a heartbreaking collapse against the Chicago Bears and get back in the win column.

It all starts with the pass rush.  The 49ers need to step up.

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers.  Follow him @BryKno on twitter.